


the superhero inheritance

by pheonix85



Series: the superhero inheritance [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Mentor/Protégé, Peter Parker is a Good Dad, Tony Stark Has A Heart, expectant dad!Peter, just one of the sappiest things i've ever written, mentor!peter, miles is going to give Peter a heart attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23457892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pheonix85/pseuds/pheonix85
Summary: When thirty-something Peter Parker's 16-year-old protégé is Stressing Him Out, he visits the one person who may be able to give him some tips.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker (mentioned), Miles Morales & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: the superhero inheritance [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792465
Comments: 38
Kudos: 248
Collections: Peter Parker is a Good Dad





	the superhero inheritance

**Author's Note:**

> this was a drabbly WIP i started last year after Spiderverse came out when I wanted to see Tony teasing Peter about stressing over Miles and has lain dormant for many months, until [seekrest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekrest/pseuds/seekrest) started talking about this trope/tag and then i finished it so. it turned into something pretty fluffy and schmoopy, you've all been forewarned.

Tony hears the door slam before he realizes anyone has entered the Penthouse.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. is configured to alert him if anyone but a select few made their way into his personal quarters. Tony's brow raises; he sips at a glass of scotch and thumbs through his StarkPad, waiting for the footsteps inevitably to come.

A couple of more doors slam. Tony doesn’t bother to turn from the armchair he’s in near the fireplace, facing the television. He hears the liquor cabinet open, a tumbler being set stiffly on the granite cabinet of the kitchen island. A deep sigh.

“Long night?” Tony finally asks, stretching his legs out onto an ottoman. Footsteps shuffle towards him, followed by a snort.

Peter Parker appears in the corner of his eye, dropping into the armchair next to him. “This _kid_.”

Tony bites back a smile. He slides a look over, setting the StarkPad on the side table. He settles his glass in his lap, staying quiet, watching as Peter fidgets.

“I told Miles to stay away from this guy in Brooklyn. He's just...he’s a lot. He's more than Miles is ready for, he got himself thrown into the side of a goddamn brick wall...” Peter growls, taking a swig of his drink with a hiss and slamming it on the coffee table. “He's new to this Tony. And he won't _listen to me_.” Peter reaches out a hand into the air in front of him, clenching his fists in frustration. “I'm sorry. I know you and Pepper came into town for a bunch of meetings, I know you're probably busy with S.I. stuff. It's just…” He grabs at his hair. “He's driving me crazy. I'm going crazy.”

Tony struggles to keep his expression straight, managing to keep it to a twitch or two of his lips. He wiggles his shoulders and sits up slowly---he’s older now and the long healed traumas have echoes, all of this took him longer. When he looks at Peter and takes in the younger man’s frown, he can’t hold it together and he barks out a laugh.

Brown eyes find him, narrowing, expectant and annoyed. “I’m sorry, can you tell me exactly what is funny about this?”

Tony purses his lips, clearing his throat. “How's your wrist?”

Peter's face twists; it had been years since he had broken his wrist, though it did give him some issue from time to time. Never anything enough to warrant Tony being aware, though, and Peter frowns. “Uh...fine?”

“I mean, bone breaks can give you some problems, even after a few years. My joints are all a little rough, you're not exactly a spring chicken anymore, I was just asking…”

“It’s fine. Tony, can you please focus, I need _help_ …”

Tony tilts his head forward, fixing Peter with a pointed look. Peter waits in the silence for a few moments, and then straightens up, looking thunderstruck. He laughs and it’s practically a huff of indignation, short and exasperated. 

“No. No! This is…” Peter shakes his head. “This is not the same.” Peter laughs again. “Miles and I are not the same, Miles is...Miles is....he’s 16! And, and he doesn’t _listen_. And he’s too eager, he just rushes ahead and doesn’t think...”

“Oh you’re right, it's not the same.” Tony takes a sip of his drink, raising a brow. “You were 14.”

Peter scowls, repeating himself. “It is _not_ the same.”

“It's a little the same.”

Peter shakes his head, standing up to pace. “No. This kid…I tell him one thing, it's like he does the exact opposite. Like me being Spiderman for 20 years isn't enough to know better! I mean, you were Iron Man, but you were still like…”

Tony's eyes narrowed. “I was still what?”

Peter has the good sense to stop that stream of consciousness. “All I'm saying is, like, I have much more experience with this specific line of superheroing. I know the Taskmaster, I know what he's capable of and Miles won't _listen to me_.”

His shoulders slump. Peter sits back down in his chair, a hand on his forehead. “I can’t go to Jefferson Davis’s house and tell him his kid is in the hospital. Or, _worse_...”

“You can't do that.” Tony sets his drink on down and leans towards Peter, a serious expression on his face. “You can't keep worrying about that. The cats out of the bag on this one. The kid won’t stop being Spiderman. So all you can do is help him become what he's gonna be.”

“I could take away the suit.”

“You _could_ ,” Tony agrees, but his expression is skeptical. “I mean, I took your suit away and you almost killed yourself in an airplane.”

“To be fair, I was never _in_ the airplane.”

Tony's flat look holds no humor. Peter shrugs. “It's still different.”

“Trust me,” Tony replies with a small smile. “It's not.”

Tony pushes himself from the armchair with a soft huff, hobbling to the minibar with his empty glass. God, he was old. He’s a few years off of 70, and Peter is almost _33_. This Miles kid...he has his shit together. He’s smart and fast, and whatever spider had bitten him, he has abilities that surpass even Peter’s. 

“He figured out that invisibility bit yet?"

Peter grimaces. “ _Finally_. Did I tell you how I lost him at Rockefeller Plaza? He almost walked right into traffic…”

“I’m sure he knew what he was doing.”

Peter throws his hands in the air as Tony sits back down. “He _always_ thinks he knows what he’s doing. That’s the problem. Can’t be bothered to just sit for one second and trust me when I tell him that things are being handled…”

Tony cuts him off with a look. “Really? Completely different? _Really_?”

“I was the perfect apprentice,” 

_By god_ , Tony thinks to himself, rolling his eyes. _The man is 32 years old but that was all petulant Peter Parker coming out in him_. 

Tony lets that one go, fixing Peter with a flat look. “He's a teenager. He's almost an adult. And you feel like he's your responsibility. And he is. A little bit. But he's got a good head on his shoulders and he's capable.” Tony rests a hand on Peter's shoulder. “Just like you were.”

“I have to keep him safe.” Peter grinds out, a desperate look on his face. “Tell me how to keep him _safe_.”

  
And now it’s Tony’s turn to be a little sad because he has to burst his kid’s bubble. Peter is an adult now; married, with a kid of his own on the way, and Tony knows this panic isn’t just about Miles. Somewhere along this line, he’s missed imparting life lessons, perhaps because this one is always a hard one to swallow---it’s taken Tony himself years to accept, and even now, it’s still hard. 

Tony groans softly as he leans forward, a gentle look on his face. “You can’t. Not all the time. That’s the reality of the work that we do. But, you can give him all the tools to do the best he can. And trust me--- I’m pretty sure even when you think he’s not listening, he is.”

Peter leans over the arm of the chair, an unconscious response to Tony’s bestowal of wisdom. He chews at his lip as Tony watches him, feeling self-conscious, and he’s suddenly just relieved, even with how awkward he feels showing up late on a Friday night when he should probably be at home with his wife. Tony’s just...

Tony’s everything, really.

May’s effectively his mom. She just is. And it’s not about Mary Parker, she’s still his mom too, but May’s been there since he was 4 years old. Mary and Richard had been there right at the beginning, Ben had been there for 10 years in the middle and now…

Almost 20 years on, Tony Stark---still taking him to school, trying to make sure he doesn’t make a mess of it along the way.

“You’re probably right,” Peter replies softly, and he looks away, the tender look of amusement on Tony’s face too much for him right now.

“I’m always right,” Tony informs him, a matter of factly. “Now. If it makes you feel better, you can have the kid stop by and we can take a look at the suit and tighten up those redundancies. I know you get alerts and updates, but maybe we can shore some of those up. Look into where you may have missed some stuff along the way, see if maybe there are some physiological cues for when he’s gonna go invisible or whatnot, maybe tie it back to Karen somehow just so you can _find_ him…”

Tony continues to ramble, looking off towards the opposite wall as he cycles through ideas for how to improve something he’d already made state of the art. Peter relaxes back in the armchair for what feels like the first time all week. MJ has just entered the third trimester of her pregnancy, where she seems to want him around but also to go away at the same time, and he can’t help stressing out over what all of it meant---the spidermanning, and Miles, and the baby, all of it.

Because….because he doesn’t know if he can _be_ spiderman with a baby. He doesn’t know if he can keep doing this all the time because it’s not going to just be him and MJ anymore, there’s gonna be someone else who needs him, more than Queens or the rest of the world needs him, and that scares the absolute hell out of him.

“How’s Morgan doing?” Peter interrupts quietly, stopping Tony in the middle of his musings. 

His mentor’s face lights up like a tree at Christmas, and he sends Peter a knowing look. “Excellent, as always. She’s having a good time at school, we’re actually going up next weekend for a visit.”

“You gonna meet her new boyfriend?”  
  


It’s been a joke between himself and his surrogate baby sister in the couple of months since she’s met the guy. Peter’s known about David for far longer than Tony has, even now, but she had broken the news over the phone a few weeks before and Tony had taken it...fine.

As fine as Tony took anything. He shoots Peter a dark look.

“Have you met him?”

“He’s a good guy, Tony.”

Tony makes a noise. “See, I knew it. I _knew_ she told you before she told us, and I _knew_ …” He shook his head, made a noise with his teeth. “She’s an adult, it’s fine, it’s fine.” He looks sideways. “He’s a good guy?”  
  


“I mean, he’s from Florida, but I don’t think you should hold that against him,” Peter replies with a smile. “He’s very polite and was appropriately afraid of me. I think you should go easy on him.”

Tony frowns, rubbing at his leg. “I just worry. With who we are, I worry they won’t want her for the right reasons and, I know I’m biased, but she’s too good for that…”

“Honestly, Tony. He knew who I was, and when I went to pay for dinner, he fought me on it. And not just in that half-assed, oh of course not way.” Peter shakes his head. “I didn’t get the impression he was only in this for her name.”

Tony eyes him. “Well, you do have like...11 extra senses, so that makes me feel better.” He pauses. “And how’s MJ and baby Parker doing? Everything copasetic?”

Peter stiffens a bit, then sighs deeply. “Yeah. Yeah, she went for a checkup last week. 32 weeks, everything is right on schedule, everything’s looking good. No…” He shakes his head. “Arachnal abnormalities, at least that we can see.”

Tony hears the edge to his voice and peers over at the kid. Peter will always be that to him, the kid, _his kid_. He knows Peter’s stressed, doesn’t think the kid really cares if anyone knows. Peter and MJ had waited a while to go down this road---between her wanting to establish a career of her own and Peter busy with the Avengers, it had just never been the right time until they started trying a few years ago.

Then they’d had trouble making it stick. Peter blamed himself, on his mutation, and Tony hears it in his voice now, the paranoia that something will be wrong, because of him. 

“Peter,” Tony says softly. “Look at me.”

Peter follows the direction, a miserable expression on his face. Tony shakes his head. 

“You know doing this to yourself isn’t going to make a difference right?”

“How am I not supposed to worry?”

“Well, when I figure it out, I’ll let you know.” Tony supplies with a small smile on his face. He nods his head. “This is more than worry, this is you beating the hell out of yourself without there even being anything wrong. We’ve done all the prelim tests, we’ve got a doctor who knows about your enhancements and keeps that in mind and you just said it yourself, everything is fine.” 

“You heard what the doctor said, though, you were there. We won’t know anything about any... _enhancements_ until the kid is here and just...what if something goes wrong…”

“It’s natural,” Tony interrupts gently. “To be worried. Hell, I'd think something was wrong if you weren’t worried, but like...normal, a soon-to-be parent worried. But aside from all the normal regular expectant parent worries….it’s gonna be okay.”

“We don’t know that.”

“I know you. And I know you'll do anything--in all _your_ recklessness, by the way, which you have in common with Mr. Morales---to do it.” Tony’s mouth twists in a wry grin and he pats Peter on the shoulder. “And if you ever get too much in your own way, you know you have me and a bunch of other people that’ll step in to help. That kids gonna have so many honorary grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins, they’re gonna be fine.”

Peter isn’t sure he’s altogether comforted but Tony looks confident and it’s a catching feeling. He rolls his eyes and he shakes his head. 

“I can’t believe you turned into a guy who gives these inspirational after-school special pep talks. What happened to you?”

Tony fakes offense, falling back against the chair, pressing a hand to his chest. “I’m good at them!” His eyes narrow. “Admit I’m good at them.”

“You’re alright.” Peter’s hand grasp at the arms of the chair. “But, hey. Don’t worry, we’ve got a whole 8 weeks left to hone your craft.”

“I got 3 waiting in the chamber. Just say the word.” Tony pushes himself up then, stretching as he stands. “You good?"

Peter shrugs. He’s pretty sure he’s not gonna be good until the kid is here, in the flesh, and he can check them over a million times to make sure they’re good so he just nods, then shrugs again. “Yeah. Yeah, I think it’ll be fine."

“As one of the foremost smart people on the planet, Pete, take my word---” Tony grabs his shoulder again, giving it a squeeze. “You’re gonna be fine. Now. Have you been banished from the apartment again and need to crash or are you heading home?”

Peter’s eyes find the clock and he sighs deeply. It’s almost midnight and he’s definitely not banished, so he follows Tony’s lead and rises from the chair, pulling at his clothes. “Yeah. Yeah, I gotta get going but…sorry to have kept you so late. Pass my apologies on to Pepper.”

Tony waves it away. “She’s been in meetings for four days, she fell asleep at 7. We head back to the lake house Sunday afternoon. You’ll let us know if you and MJ want to get lunch?”

Peter nods. “Of course. Thanks for...letting me stop by.”

“Doors always open, kid. You know that. Alarm isn’t even triggered by you.” He pauses, watching as Peter gets his things together then follows him as Peter heads for the door. “And you call us if you need anything. Any hospital emergencies, baby time, or if either of you just needs a break. Babymoon, any of it, let us know.”

“We will. Thanks, Tony.”

“And Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“Ease up on Miles a little bit. Trust him more. Take it from someone who knows, alright?”

Peter fights the eye roll, but he gives Tony a small, humoring smile. “Yeah, alright. I’ll think about it.” 

Peter leans in then, reaching out to give him a hug. Tony is sure it’s the conversation that makes him think of it, but he does---thinks back to how this all started, when Tony was in Peter’s shoes and he was chasing around this kid who didn’t think twice before he jumped. About how Tony wasn’t this kind of guy, the kind that doled out advice and worried all that much, and how Peter was kind of why that all changed. And then, most of all, about how they almost didn’t get here.

Tony huffs at the thought, and Peter takes the moment to pat him on the back, once then twice, a Real Man™ hug. “You’re gonna be a great grandpa.”

Ah. Well, then. When they pull back, Tony only smiles, worried his voice will betray something more and Peter just smiles, so genuine and earnest before giving him a mock salute, slipping out the door. 

Tony watches him go, waits until Peter waves as he walks through the door and lets it fall behind him. Tony sighs deeply then, letting out any and all stress he’s carrying because imparting wisdom never gets easier. He’s still scared as hell he might be telling Peter the wrong thing. But one thing he’s absolutely certain of is this.

Tony may very well be a pretty great grandpa, time will tell all of that.

But Peter Parker is for sure gonna be one hell of a dad.


End file.
